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Surprising reward for GL Tech students' artistic masonry

By Sarah Favot, sfavot@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/26/2013 01:42:46 PM EST

TYNGSBORO -- They never thought it would happen.

When Greater Lowell Technical High School masonry instructor Michael Dumont pitched an idea in April to his students about constructing a mosaic and presenting it to New England Patriots owner Robert Kraft, they thought he was crazy.

"It's not going to happen," Selena Regan, 16, said was her first thought.

"I thought he was nuts," said Yadyna Pos, 17.

"I just thought we were going to build it for nothing," said Steven Neves, 16.

The students went to work anyway and on Jan. 18, they presented the mosaic, completed after hours of work and more than 2,000 tiles, to the business tycoon and philanthropist at Gillette Stadium.

Kraft spent more than an hour with the students and thanked them for their hard work.

"I thought he was going to walk in, look at the mosaic, say, 'Thank you' and walk out," said Neves. He told the students he loved it.

The mosaic the students made was based on a painting Patriots offensive lineman Matt Light, who has since retired, had commissioned by artist Brian Fox in honor of Kraft's late wife, Myra. The painting depicted a huddle of Patriots players reaching skyward toward Mrs. Kraft's initials: MHK.

Myra Hiatt Kraft died in July 2011 after battling ovarian cancer.

During the 2011 NFL season, Patriots players wore Myra's initials on their game jerseys as a tribute.

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Fox's painting was placed on an easel in the middle of the locker room for the entire season.

Kraft immediately noticed the students had decided to include a portrait of Myra Kraft in the mosaic, a controversial decision because it deviated from Fox's painting.

"When he saw it, he said it touched his heart because that's his sweetheart," said Selena Regan.

Pos, who had taken the mosaic home during the Christmas break to work on it, cried when Kraft said how touched he was. The conversation between Kraft and the students at the stadium wasn't about football, but about life.

Kraft spoke about his beloved late wife, about her contributions to charity and how much she meant to him and that they should strive to live life as she did. Kraft said his "sweetheart" was very caring and loving, never gave up and she was always there for people. Kraft told the teenagers to never be afraid to fail because if you don't try you don't know if you're going to succeed.

While the students expected Kraft be wearing a suit, he showed up in black Nike running shoes, dark blue jeans and a blazer.

"He's got swag," said Chris Baker, 16.

As if the whole experience of going to the stadium and meeting Kraft wasn't enough, Kraft casually mentioned during the meeting the students were getting tickets to AFC Championship Game against the Baltimore Ravens.

"We were all speechless and so surprised," said Cassady Monty.

None of the students had ever been to a game before. The tickets were near the 50-yard line. The loss was disappointing, the students said, but the experience was incredible.

"There was so much energy, everybody was going crazy," said Baker.

Regan said reflecting on the experience that it wasn't that the students were lucky, but they put in the dedication and effort to finish the project and were unexpectedly rewarded.

For months, students put in hours of work to complete the mosaic.

Dumont thought creating a mosaic replica of the oil painting would allow players to be able to touch the mosaic as they walked out of the locker room for good luck without worrying about deterioration.

They started by hanging a piece of sheetrock on the wall and using a projector to project the image of the painting onto the rock. Pos sketched the outline of the painting onto the sheet rock. Then the students picked out tiles to match the colors of the painting and began the tedious work of cutting the tiles to size and laying them on the sheet rock to form the image of the painting.

Work on the mosaic started in the spring. The students took a break during the summer vacation, then started up in the fall and kicked it into high-gear late in December.

The students worked on it six hours during the school day and then for a couple hours after school.

Without Dumont's encouragement, the students said the project wouldn't have been completed on time.

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